event: don't you forget about me

[mayfield_mods]

[For those of you venturing into Mayfield's library today, you can find the head librarian hard at work at the front desk or shelving books. Most people who try to approach her will simply get a stern look and a reminder to keep their voices down.

If you happen to have something of hers though, you may get quite a different reaction...]

[OOC: This post is locked to characters who have a memento. Please do not reply if you don't have one. For those who do, you can go ahead and respond in any order; however, day 7's memento will be chronologically the last one she'll see.]

Comments

[mayfield_mods]

I-I don't want to die. I don't want to die. None of us want to - why do you think we're here? This town is perfect! It's better than anything out there!

[Her voice cracks, a strange modulation between a tired old woman and a grieving teenage girl.] We were trapped...for so long...out there where nothing lived and nothing grew and nothing could be seen for miles and miles into forever. Hiding and starving and dying like animals.

And then we found Mayfield. And it was perfect. And Jonathon Zemekis was wonderful and let us share his paradise and it's better, it's...perfect.

[werejew]

Nothing's perfect. And Mayfield fucking bites. It married me to a fucking Nazi, and you wanna talk about it being perfect? Bullshit. Maybe it was cool once, a long time ago, but Johnny-boy went fucking crazy and now he's just fucking with everybody. Just like he fucked with your head, and your memories.

[She takes the flower from her pocket and holds it out to her.] Pretty flower for a pretty girl?

[mayfield_mods]

[A bitter laugh.] I haven't been pretty or a girl for a long, long time.

[She hesitates before reaching for the flower with shaky fingers.] Do you...do you know what this is?

[werejew]

Um... A flower...? Like, I'm pretty fucking sure it's a flower.

[mayfield_mods]

Not just any flower. [She brushes one of the petals reverently.] This flower...comes from outside of Mayfield.

[werejew]

... Dude. For real?

How'd it get in here? I found it in that weird-ass void place.

[mayfield_mods]

Mr. Grey must have put it there. I don't know how when he's supposed to be dead, but...maybe the system has secrets even we never figured out. I always felt like there was more to this town than what we put into it.

[werejew]

That Grey dude was the bubble! He was the bubble that stopped us from, like, getting eaten by all that weird shit in the void!

[WHY DOES ANNIE HAVE THIS VERY IMPORTANT TASK...]

[mayfield_mods]

...it could be that an imprint of him is trapped in the system. A ghost in the machine, still trying to save everyone. If anyone could do it, he could. He was always so determined to get us to leave this place, but no one listened.

[werejew]

Who was he?... Actually, who the fuck are any of you people? The whole time we've been here, it's all been bullshit codenames and holograms like we're in the fucking Matrix or some shit.

[mayfield_mods]

He was a journalist. And...he was my friend.

It wasn't always like this. But I guess Dr. Zemekis thought that everyone needed to erase their past so they could be happy.

[werejew]

That's some pretty bullshit happiness. Pasts are, like, super fucking important and shit. Erasing that shit is like erasing yourself.

He kinda sucks at erasing shit, though, if all we need to do is show you some shit and all that goes away.

[mayfield_mods]

He can't erase someone's identity, even with all his powers. He can only bury it.

And this flower isn't...shit. It's so much more than that.

[werejew]

Well, yeah, of fucking course it is! I mean, it's from outside; that's pretty fucking legit, right? The only other things from outside are us.

[mayfield_mods]

[She smiles faintly.]

We were about to give up, you know? Out in that hellhole, with nothing living in sight. We weren't even sure if we actually heard Zemekis' message, or if we just hallucinated it. We thought...even death had to be better than this burnt out shell of nothing.

And then we saw this flower. This tiny, fragile plant that had somehow taken root after the bombs and the radiation and the ashes and the terrible war, that grew into something beautiful and alive.

That's what this flower is. It's...hope.

[werejew]

Wow. [She looks at the flower in silence for a little bit, mulling it all over.]

... Wait. What war?

[mayfield_mods]

The war that destroyed the world.

[She stiffens suddenly.] I can't stay much longer. He knows, I can feel it, he's going to try to drone me again.

[werejew]

Well, fucking talk faster, then; this is shit we need to fucking know! What war, who was in it, what happened, what fucking year is it-- and I mean the real year, none of this 195X bullshit.

[mayfield_mods]

[Shakes her head.] I'm sorry, there's still so much that's blurry to me.

[She freezes suddenly, looking frightened.] I can't - I have to go now.

[werejew]

You can fight it! Shit, Annie, he's just some creepy old dude pretending to be a little girl! He won't win!

[She thrusts the flower towards her.] You don't have a world to go back to, but the rest of us do, and you and this Grey motherfucker are our only hopes! Fucking fight it!

[mayfield_mods]

[She clutches the flower close to her and nods, a fierce look of determination on her face.]

Yes. There's - there's still so much I can't remember, but I just need to get better, and then I'll free everyone. I swear. I won't let Mr. Grey and everyone else down.

[She closes her eyes in concentration as the air behind shimmers.]

[werejew]

... Um, okay, what the fuck is going on back there?

[mayfield_mods]

[It may be just a trick of the light, but it almost seems like the wrinkles on the old woman's face are getting smoother.]

Thank you. And everyone, for giving me everything back.

[The air parts to reveal a portal to the wasteland.]

I'll come back, I promise. Once I recover, once I get stronger, I'll come back and help. You just have to hang in there a little longer, okay? Even in the darkest of times, there's always hope.

[And with that, she steps through the portal. It closes behind her, and she vanishes from the library without a trace.]

[werejew]

... Um, yeah, good luck with that shit?

[WHAT THE GOOD GODDAMN JUST HAPPENED HERE]